Today, we had our 20 week checkup. I have really been feeling the babies move alot lately and can already tell that each one has his own personality!! We have decided that we are going to name the boys Charles McConnell and Samuel James , Charlie and Sam, with each one having a middle name from mine and Michael's side of the family. Needless to say, Michael and I were very excited about seeing our little guys today and have really been spoiled with all the sonograms we have had due to our pregnancy of multiples!!
I think since we have already had several sonograms, our sonographer has gotten pretty comfortable with us and we with her. She also knows how I am such a planner and don't like surprises, obviously displayed with our first sonogram!!! With that being said, I got myself up on the table and the first thing she says is, "My goodness...you're tummy is really large even for 2 babies at only 20 weeks!" and then, "Let's check this out and see why." Oh boy....
Both our boys looked great!! Baby A is 14 ounces and Baby B is exactly a pound!! In fact, they are above average for 20 weeks which is awesome!! They are both very active and we even had one wave at us!!! That was the good news.... The other news ( I am not going to call it "bad news" because I simply want everything to be positive) is that I am carrying 3 times the amount of fluid that I am suppose to be carrying at this time. As I am laying there looking at the sonographer, she once again is quiet as she probes around and then replies.."um, you just bought yourself a ticket to the high risk doctor!" Amazingly, I was very calm.
Before the end of the appointment, I had Dr. Joseph on one side and the sonographer on the other taking turns with the probe while Michael stood there in silence and I felt the sudden urge to pray.
So, what does this all mean? Well, I am experiencing early symptoms of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) . This can occur with identical twins and basically means that my placenta isn't receiving the correct signals in order to distribute blood supply evenly to both my boys. Basically, Baby B is swimming around in an olympic size pool and Baby A has more like a blow-up backyard pool! This can result in one baby receiving too much blood which could cause heart defects from the heart working twice as hard and one baby not getting enough blood supply which could cause anemia and a possible blood transfusion at birth. These are worse case scenerios. Otherwise, one baby may be a little bit bigger than the other .
The good thing is that I was diagnosed early which means that I will be monitored extra closely. I return to Dr. Joseph in three weeks for another sonogram and at that time, he will decide whether or not I need an amniocentisis to draw off some of the fluid in order to balance out my blood supply, and it would make me a whole lot more comfortable!
Dr. Joseph gave me the okay to travel to the beach this week but has ordered me to quit working after 2 weeks and from there I am to remain a "slug",as he called it, so we can keep these boys in me as long as we can safely. Our goal right now is at least 32 weeks.
"With Him all things are possible."